Day 1.5 in a post Facebook world.
Last night was kind of cool. I came home after dinner with good friends and didn't check to see what everyone was doing. I assumed if they wanted me to know they would have called me, text me, or emailed me.
This brings me to my next reason on why I dropped Facebook. I believe it is unhealthy to know what is going on in everyone's life 24/7. Who am I, God? No, I'm not. God already filled the position of being God. I'm Paul. It's a humble position, and no one else wants it, but it's my job, and I'm keeping it until God says so.
Even if it's really awesome (you got a new job, you're getting married, you liked the movie Tree of Life -- even though no one really liked that piece of crap) I really shouldn't have access to all that info. I shouldn't really be able to follow your life through pictures. I should make an effort to call you or hang out with you or visit you at work or invite you my place for dinner or meet for lunch or if I see you at Target, buy you a soft pretzel and let you tell me about you.
And then there is the concept of butting into every conversation. Which I'm as guilty as any, by the way. As if my opinion or idea is worthy of being on your page so that your 500 other friends can see what I think.
On top of all of that, it was becoming depressing to watch people I care about post questions on a general forum and watch the bad advice come spewing in like rivers of dung. I mean just HORRIBLE HORRIBLE advice, and if I posted a response countering it, then I would have been labeled an ass. So out of sight, out of mind, I suppose. I have to remember that it's not my job to fix everything. Not everyone is like this, as some people don't give a hill of beans about anything. But it's my issue and I'm working on it.
What I also found was that Facebook makes everything so much more impersonal than it ever should be. And since I can send a message out into the world about my vacation and post a few pictures up in the photos section, I found myself less connected to people because I no longer would call them about what's going on in my life or asking them what's going on in theirs. Instead, the "news feed" pops up and now I feel like I got my "Jim time" or "Cindy fix." On a side note, I don't believe I have any friends named Jim or Cindy. But had I put "Adam" or "Katie" then those people might have thought I canceled Facebook because of them.
Oh...I must address an issue that must be addressed. :)
I have been told that keeping a blog is contradictory in my original thesis concerning online social networking. While I understand it on face value, I do believe that well thought out essays or thematic blogs are different from 12 word status updates. And as a writer, this blog allows me the opportunity to write in a more progressive and detailed manner, when I'm not complaining about my neighbor's rooster. Ha!
But if you still believe I'm picking and choosing, then let me direct you to this famous quote by Walt Whitman: "Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes." I agree.
The last point I want to address was brought up by a writer friend of mind who mentioned that he uses Facebook to see what is nephew is doing across the country and promote his writing. That's fantastic, but when you really start to think about it, why do I really need to know what's going on with my family unless I'm interacting with it? Unless we use information to grow the relationship, then really that information is of no true value to us.
For the majority of human history nobody knew what anyone was doing and they found a way to survive. In 1865 you, the wife and kids lived in Arizona and your other brother lived in New York with his kids, and maybe you visited or wrote a letter and everyone still figured out how to get everything done. So I'm not buying this "I have a Facebook so I can see what my Aunt Edna is doing with her time." If you love Edna...call her or better yet, visit.
I know I'm coming off very judgemental. That's not my point at all. I just think I'm seeing a trend and I want to stop it in me before it eats away at my soul. So it's a personal choice. But a choice I'm beginning to agree with more and more.
On that note...Cat Stevens!
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